


Next To You

by KatyTheInspiredWorkaholic



Series: Katy's RWG Bingo submissions [3]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: A lot of Staring, Bunny fill, Character Study, Daryl worship, Domestic!Rickyl, Established Relationship, Fluff, It's a lotta words people, Kissing awake, M/M, Moonlight, Norman Reedus is a gorgeous man okay!, Reflections/inner-musing, Rickyl Writers' Group, Rickyl Writers' Group Bingo 2016, Season 03/04 - Prison Era, if that's a thing?, it should be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 11:37:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6115303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatyTheInspiredWorkaholic/pseuds/KatyTheInspiredWorkaholic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rickyl Writers' Group BINGO 2016: Moonlight</p><p>Rick accidentally stays up all night watching Daryl sleep, because how could he not? And finally gives in to the urge to kiss him awake, because also - how could he <i>not?</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Next To You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TWDObsessive](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TWDObsessive/gifts).



> I picked up this bunny that TWDObsessive let free, and I hope I did it justice dear. It was supposed to be a short little thing that maybe could've ended in smut and it decided it wanted to be a character study instead. I'm so sorry it ended that way, I will write something filthy next I promise. Unbeta'd again, so sorry for the run-on sentences (there was more before, trust me), but enjoy :)

\--

Rick couldn’t believe he was still awake, almost two full hours after his shift had ended. He had switched with Glenn on the hour, almost to the second according to his watch – if it was still accurate at all – and had quickly padded back to the cellblock in the quiet dark. So eager to get back he almost berated himself, knowing it had nothing to do with the comfort of his bed, or the prospect of sleep. But what lay _in_ his bed. Because it wasn’t just his bunk anymore, or his cell. 

It was _their_ cell.

His and Daryl’s. 

The actual moving in had happened gradually. So instinctual both weren’t even aware of it, until they realized most of Daryl’s things now occupied the spaces and corners of Rick’s room that had been vacant previously. The space melding into a shared one as easily as the two men melded together when they shared the small bunk pressed against the wall. In comparison to Daryl moving into his cell, the beginning of this amazing _thing_ between them had been instant. Explosive and devastating, they had crashed into each other so rapidly, throwing caution to the wind and finally giving in to the pull they’d been ignoring for months. 

So for the past few weeks Rick slept better than he had since he’d woken from his coma. Having the hunter pressed all along him at night – heated and solid and so comforting he couldn’t put it into words – encompassed in that concentration of fortitude and power, by his side in the form of a man he trusted beyond anything. But even now, Rick still couldn’t believe when he came into his cell and saw Daryl Dixon sprawled across his bunk. Long, strong limbs and a mess of brown hair, buried deep into the pillows. Coiled strength and hard muscle becoming so pliable that all Rick had to do was kick off his boots, shuck his gun belt and clothes, and slide in next to him. And they fit, miraculously. Even half asleep Daryl always accommodated him before passing back out, so entangled that Rick could feel more than hear his soft snores as the other fell asleep once more. 

That had been two hours ago, though, and Rick still couldn’t sleep. 

Because it was almost that time of night. The moon sliding smoothly across the sky and finally reaching just the right spot, the perfect angle to shine through the bars high up on the wall of C-Block and into their cell. It was a full moon tonight, Rick had been glancing at it repeatedly all through his shift, impressed by how well it lit up the walkers roaming beyond the fence line. And getting ideas, becoming antsy to get back to the hunter asleep in the prison, and ready for this time of night to come around. Rick wouldn’t have missed it for anything. 

The strips of bright light illuminated the cell, slowly traveling across the wall towards where the two men lay, and Rick had watched it move with a careful eye. All the while enjoying the feeling of strong arms locked around him, holding on tight and heavy with the dead weight of sleep. Never knowing before how comforting that solid weight pressing down on him could feel until it was wrapped around him. But as the strips of light hit the wall behind their bunk, Rick carefully pried himself from Daryl’s grasp, shifting to raise himself a little and look down at the man sleeping beside him.

And God, what a sight. 

Daryl’s face was a vision in the soft light, dark shadows cutting along his smooth skin, highlighting the angles of his face. Cheekbones and jaw line accented so sharply it was like they had been drawn in pencil. His features were so relaxed in sleep, the careful lines around his eyes and mouth showing his age attractively, lips slightly parted as he breathed deep and slow. Rick could stare at him forever, every strand of hair that fell into his face, every breath that made his broad chest and shoulders rise and fall, when he swallowed the lines and chords in his neck flexing, small sounds emitting from him when he shifted – low and deep, comfortable and lethargic. 

Echoing the low groans that usually bounced off the stone walls of their cell, sensual and primal, obscenely loud in the dense quiet. Just the thought of what’d they done in that small bunk had a spark of arousal kindling inside his chest, spreading through his veins in a rushing warmth that caressed every nerve ending. He had to hold back the groan that threatened to escape his throat, clear blue eyes blown out black at just the thought of the other man that was so close – just a breath away. Those dark eyes traced every hardened line of Daryl’s body that glowed in the bright moonlight, soaking into his tan skin and illuminating the sharp angles and delicious dips created by his muscular form. 

Swallowing hard, Rick’s gaze once again was drawn to the other man’s face, and was struck by just how gorgeous he was. This amazing man had been in his sights, in his reach, for so long, and Rick would never forgive himself for not seeing that – for being so blind to what was right in front of him. Just soaking in the sight of him, every inch of his face, the lips he had kissed so many times he’d memorized the shape with his own mouth, made Rick’s heart beat so hard it thudded against his ribcage.

But it wasn’t just Daryl’s rough form of attractiveness that had Rick staring so hard, so wrapped up in the other man that it was all encompassing. It was who he was as a person, and what they had - before it became so much more. The strange connection that was as instinctual as everything else about them, conversing on a level far apart from mere words. The moved as one. Reacting to one another in the best of ways, always aware of each other, the combination resulting in them moving in tandem – becoming a deadly force that was as efficient as it was intoxicating. They understood each other, from day one, even hostile and at each other’s throats, constantly having confrontations with weapons in hand. Rick had pointed his Colt Python at Daryl’s head more times than he was comfortable with, in those early days, and Daryl’s glare through slitted eyes and an angry frown was something that would always be seared in the back on his mind. He hadn’t seen it in a while, that look, more use to the twitches to his hunter’s thin lips that meant he was trying to smile. Soft expressions that were reserved for his family, their family. Glances out of the corner of his pale blue eyes that had been so shy and hesitant until a few weeks ago, and now they were either fond – or heated. Searing in their intensity, and they cut straight to Rick’s core, hit him as hard as a lightning strike. 

As he contemplated each look, each time Daryl would glance over his shoulder before he left the prison yard for a hunt – crossbow strapped to his back and tattered hems of his pants tied to his boots with bandanas – his pale eyes would find Rick first. And although his expression was well guarded, a permanent poker face to anyone who didn’t know him, Rick was slowly learning what each look meant. Daryl was surprisingly expression-able, when one noticed the small tells of his. How his eyes skittered around when he was searching for useful assets, or potential threats. How he chewed on his thumbnail when he was unsure or nervous, nibbled on his bottom lip when he was thinking hard about something, or looked around and surveyed his surroundings when he had run out of things to say. Stalling until the next words he felt the need to speak came to him. It was such an intimate thing, to learn those little aspects of Daryl Dixon, to be allowed to know him for such a time that each gesture could be tracked. 

And it had been a long time, Rick realized. Almost a year now. 

His hair was getting longer, sometimes covering those striking eyes, traveling down the nape of his neck and over his ears, becoming darker the longer it got. It almost framed his face, though Rick knew he wouldn’t let anyone near him with a pair of scissors so the strands had to just grow that way. The fact that Rick knew so much about the other man, who had been a closed off mystery for so long, was more personal than anything else. Almost more intimate than the sex.

Which – was _great_ , by the way. Another facet Rick hadn’t expected from the quiet man.

The moonlight was growing fainter, showing the encroaching dawn was beginning to battle its brightness, but only making the cell a few shades darker. Rick’s eyes had adjusted to the lack of light, though they burned with the need for sleep, but he just couldn’t look away. Entranced by the careful curve of Daryl’s mouth, usually pressed so tightly closed, now slack and lightly parted to breathe slow and deep, soft snores accompanying each breath. He had been staring at the other’s mouth for far too long now, wanting to feel the warm skin beneath his own lips, but not wanting to disturb his sleep. 

A faint thought crossed his mind, the idea to go ahead and press a kiss to Daryl’s mouth, caress his lips soft and careful – and wake the other using only that movement. His chest tightened, heart almost skipping a beat at the thought. The gesture was probably too romantic for the Dixon to appreciate, but it made a soft lazy smile cross Rick’s face. Daryl was due for watch at dawn anyway, and it would be a fun parting for the two. 

But it was going to have to wait a few more moments, because with every tiny shift and every heavy breath, Rick sunk further and further into the sight of the man beside him. His friend, his partner, his everything. Always orbiting each other, and only crashing together to create an eclipsing moment of peace in the chaos that was their lives. His moon to Rick’s sun, he thought tiredly, fingers finally finding the other’s arm where the curve of his bicep had captured the last ray of moonlight that could make its way into their cell. 

He had been right, to stay awake. The vision of Daryl bathed in moonlight was something Rick would never forget. 

His tired mind finally took over, knowing it was getting close to when Daryl needed to awaken, and Rick found himself leaning in close to the other’s face. Rick felt his breath fan over his cheeks, a small laugh escaping him at the other’s blissful obliviousness, before closing the gap between them to press his mouth warm and soft to Daryl’s. Leaving a kiss there that barely did anything but send a small shock of awareness through the hunter. Rick’s lips were turned up in a quiet smile as he slowly left kiss after kiss on the man’s mouth, the small beauty mark beside his lips, the scruff on his cheeks and chin, everywhere he could reach. Daryl moaned at the warm sensations, subconsciously leaning in to each kiss, his heavy limbs and body curving towards Rick’s own – chasing the warmth and closeness. Pale blue eyes finally blinked open in a blurry and groggy effort to see Rick smile at him teasingly, pressing another lingering kiss to his lips that Daryl tried to match but still had a slight delayed reaction to.

“t’s nice,” he murmured, deep drawl gruff and still scratchy with sleep, whole body rolling into Rick’s in the small space of their bunk to get closer. Rick’s arm was around him in an instant, using that movement to mold his front to Daryl’s, chest to chest and hips bucking into Daryl’s own. And hello, it really was morning wasn’t it? Daryl’s breath hitched, also holding on to Rick and rolling his hips to meet the older man’s again. The friction and heat created so intense beneath the sheets that Daryl was coming up from his cloud of deep sleep rapidly.

Which was why he was the first to notice the light colors to the sky.

“Shit,” he cursed quietly, letting his head rest on Rick’s shoulder heavily. “I gotta go.”

“Five more minutes,” Rick whispered huskily, long fingers traveling down Daryl’s chest and abs to the edge of his boxers, stroking him through the thread-bare fabric. 

“Ya got a lotta faith in me, t’s too early,” Daryl mumbled into the bare skin of Rick’s shoulder, leaving a small trail of kisses that he knew would set Rick’s blood on fire. Teasing, careful, groggy enough to not be self-conscious about the act; but fuck if Rick didn’t groan and rut up against Daryl’s hip in turn. A huff of breath against his cheek was the closest thing to a laugh Rick had heard from the other in a while, the smallest traces of a smile tugging at Daryl’s lips. Which quickly morphed into a smirk as he left one more lingering kiss on Rick’s mouth, voice still sleepy and gruff as he told him “should’a woken me up earlier.”

“Don’t you dare,” Rick growled into the hunter’s mouth, pressing a hard searing kiss to that spot behind Daryl’s ear that he knew made the other weak in the knees. But the silent shaking laughter that vibrated through Daryl’s chest was enough to know there would be no sleepy morning sex for him. “Oh c’mon.”

But Daryl was already unfolding himself from how he’d been wrapped around Rick, raising up on strong muscular arms to climb over the older man. Though he leaned down to press one more kiss to his lips in parting. “Later, promise.”

“You better,” Rick said after him, watching the hunter tug his clothes on with a slight pull to his lips that was _not_ a pout. Once again appreciating the long hard lines that he had traced with his tongue time and time again, even absent-mindedly licking his own kiss-swollen lips to refresh the taste of Daryl’s skin on his tongue. 

“Stop poutin’,” Daryl scoffed, sliding into his winged vest and hauling his crossbow over his shoulder. 

“Ain’t pouting.”

Another huff that was a laugh to Rick’s ears, and a look from beneath Daryl’s bangs had the hunter contemplating Rick, words that sounded like “Sure yer not” muttered incoherently as Daryl gave into the urge to leave one more kiss on Rick’s _pouting_ lips before making his way out of the cell. But he stopped as he pulled back the privacy curtain, looking over his shoulder at Rick still sprawled across the bunk, a questioning look in his eyes.

“How long were ya watching me sleep?”

“Not long,” Rick said quickly, the lie plastered all over his face, unabashedly leering at the man as he looked him up and down with his hands settled behind his head. “Sure ya don’t have five minutes?”

“Get some sleep, Grimes,” Daryl grumbled, fond and exasperated as he finally disappeared beyond the dark grey curtain and into the faint morning light.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Next To You - Edit](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11201640) by [PixieReedus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PixieReedus/pseuds/PixieReedus), [Rickyl_edits](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rickyl_edits/pseuds/Rickyl_edits), [YeyaGrimes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/YeyaGrimes/pseuds/YeyaGrimes)




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